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Fortnite X Mayhem: Borderlands 3 Crossover Event, More from 10.20 Patch Notes

Tim Daniels

Fortnite Battle Royale is taking a trip to the planet of Pandora as part of a special Borderlands 3 crossover event—Fortnite X Mayhem—ahead of Borderlands' Sept. 13 release date.

Epic Games announced the collaboration with Borderlands developer Gearbox Software as part of Tuesday's 10.20 patch notes. Here's a look at the trailer:

The Pandora Rift Zone has appeared on the fringe of the desert in the southeast portion of the Fortnite map. It replaces the truck stop outside of the unnamed location popularly referred to as Westworld.

Along with the new location, the crossover event features a series of challenges to attempt until Sept. 10 that will allow players to earn free in-game rewards. There's also a Psycho Bundle available for purchase in the shop with Borderlands-inspired items.

It will be intriguing to see what happens with that area of the map when the Borderlands collaboration ends. The rumored return of Moisty Mire could on to fruition since that point of interest inhabited that same area before it was removed in Season 5.

Borderlands 3, which features Epic Games' Unreal Engine 4, will be released on PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox One and Google Stadia next month.

Meanwhile, the latest Fortnite update also featured a handful of other changes, including the addition of a new item called the shield bubble.

Players can throw down a shield bubble to block explosives and other projectiles for 30 seconds. Opponents can still enter the bubble, which has 400 HP, for standard combat.

From a competitive standout, it figures to become more useful endgame when a team has high ground and a rocket launcher, which has basically equated to free eliminations in the past. The new item could at least provide a 30-second reprieve from the high-ground onslaught.

As the shield bubble arrives, three items—the storm flip, drum gun and storm scout sniper rifle—were placed in the vault and are no longer available.

Fortnite also nerfed turbo building by decreasing the placement time from .05 seconds to .15 seconds.

"This is intended to level the playing field regarding ping when it comes to turtling," Epic Games wrote in the patch notes.

Although the ping differential had become far too much of a deciding factor in taking walls, the change could also impact the ability for players attempting to get high ground in fights.

Finally, efforts to make the B.R.U.T.E. less of a game-changer continued by leaving their on-map markers active, even after they are claimed. So opposing players will now know where the controversial mechs are at all times during a match.

   

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